Do You Bicycle? Dedicated to the proposition that bike riding is good for you & fun. Commentary, links, news, opinion, reviews, stories, travelogue, & occasional heads up about events. Kiril Kundurazieff spreads the word & the word is BICYCLE!

March 20, 2006

3 Interesting Articles on Cycling in Britain

Courtesy of Robert Hanks who writes The Cycling Column for The Independent:

2/28: About Fixed-Gear Bicycles.

The grit and slush of winter are thoroughly ingrained on my rear derailleur. Every gear-change sends a grinding tremor through the levers.

One solution would be to clean it all up. A more radical option would be to get rid of derailleurs altogether. Either you adopt a technological fix - those crazy Rohloff 14-speed hub gears - or you give up on gears altogether.

This is the solution favoured by Will Meister, who runs hubjub.co.uk. A few years ago, Will fell in love with riding fixed gear. He set up a website, 63xc.com, for fellow fixed off-road enthusiasts, and hubjub followed.

In this country, unlike most of Europe, there are still motorists who regard cyclists as intruders on the roads. But the only way to change that is just to keep on riding. Sooner or later, they'll get used to us.

March 14, 2006

More Proof UK Parliamentary Group is Alive

I awoke this morning to comment to a post from Mid February in which it appeared to me that the UK Parliamentary Group was caput.

I wrote back alerting the writer to my later posts, and he fired back an addition that clears up what CB actually stands for:

MESSAGE 1:

The Group is NOT dead!

I assist the group with their activities and can assure you that the group is as active as ever.

The website has not been updated but another is in construction.

You are quite correct that each All Party Group is dissolved with Parliament and has to be reformed. However, the group reformed and already has around 50 members. There are plenty of committed cyclists still in Parliament!

Several pieces of legislation are passing through the UK Parliament at the moment with relevance to cyclists which the group's members are paying close attention to.

Officers of the group have managed to maintain the rights of cyclists to open up new paths across open countryside through active use - there was an ambiguity in a Bill banning off-road vehicles from using countryside paths and lanes.

Cycling MPs are closely scrutinising the Road Safety Bill which is progressing through the Commons at present - this Bill seeks to create a new offence of Death by Careless or Inconsiderate Driving which plugs a gap between existing offences.

Thank you for taking an interest in the activities of the All Party Parliamentary Cycle Group.

When our new website is up we will be sure to let you know!

MESSAGE 2:

Thanks for sending the links to all the entries.

All Party Groups are informal and have little in the way of administrative support – I only have a very limited amount of time reserved for the group’s activities each week.

BTW: CB stands for Cross-bencher, NOT Companion of the Order of Bath. Cross-benchers are Peers (Lords) with no party affiliation. The qualifying members have to come from the 10:7:3 split because that is the present political structure.

My research over the last few days has shown me that there is a huge amount of activism in the UK, and that it may be more comprehensive, and organized, than even in the US, and I'll be adding more links to the side bar in coming days.

The UK Cycling Alliance is to be the new name for CPAG (the Cyclists' Parliamentary Affairs Group).UKCA will focus on maintaining good liaison between the various cycling interests, including the cycle trade and industry, and on cultivating pro-cycling support amongst MPs and Peers.

As appropriate, it will coordinate action on behalf of cycling as a whole, or ensure that there is mutual understanding of the issues when lobbying activities are undertaken by individualorganisations.

From Pages 4 to 6 are some brief articles, under the CPAG title, about Cycling issues of the time.

The other key info comes from the Website of the Ancient and Honourable ( MY Title ) CTC:

What's the CTC?

CTC is the UK and Ireland’s largest and longest established national cycling membership organisation. It was founded in 1878 as the Bicycle Touring Club, subsequently becoming the Cyclists' Touring Club. In 2003 CTC celebrated 125 years of working for traveling, recreational and utility cycle users. We were the forerunners of the world wide network of cycling, motoring and tourism organisations, many of whom based their services on CTC’s.

The organisation has its origins in the early days of cycling when the bicycle opened up new horizons for independent travel. CTC set out to identify suitable hostelries for its members and include them in members’ guides and handbooks. Occasionally you will spot a round plaque on the wall of older hotels showing the CTC emblem of a winged wheel, indicating a long history of welcoming cyclists.

5. London Cycling Campaign (by far the biggest of the CCN groups, with a place on CPAG in its own right).

6. Sustrans. Sustrans safe routes to schools website.

7. C-PAG plays a key role in co-ordinating parliamentary lobbying on legislation affecting cyclists’ interests. It organises an annual MPs’ bike ride in Bike Week. It also provides support for the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG) of MPs and Lords who take an interest in cycling matters.

Miranda must have had too much Tea and Scones, or something, because I got the correct definition this morning:

CB stands for Cross-bencher, NOT Companion of the Order of Bath. Cross-benchers are Peers (Lords) with no party affiliation. The qualifying members have to come from the 10:7:3 split because that is the present political structure.

Chris Peck

All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group Secretariat

***END UPDATE***

Okay so we now know a bit more about this C-PAG.

It's a Lobbying Group that provides support to the Parliamentary Cycling Group.

But still no central website can be found that promotes its membership, organizers, and activities.

I know, I know... "Blimey, but this Bloke is a NOSEY Bastard!"

Well.... that's what Bloggers do in order to find interesting stories to write about....

We poke around the Internet until we find something interesting to write about then do so.

That's what this year on The Cycling Dude is all about: Expanding on this Blogs Original Mission of informing myself, and my readers, about Bicycling, and Cycling Resources.

February 17, 2006

British Cycling Group still Pedalling

After writing this article, on the 15th, I wrote the office of the Chairman of the UK House of Commons: All-Party Parliamentary CYCLING Group to let her know of my findings, and about The Cycling Dude.

I received a prompt response that was at once an update, and a tad frustrating:

Dear Kiril,

Emily's website with information on the APPCG is here. Click under 'campaigns' see information on cycling.

UK Parliamentary Cycling Group may be dead

NOT FOUND: The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it.

Hmmm...

Here's the SCOOP!

According to a Document Ifound, that lists all Groups in th ALL-PARTY Group list, only those with an Asterisk are still active:

At dissolution of Parliament (11 April 2005), before the General Election, every All Party Group was disbanded. These groups had until 14 July 2005 to re-register, shortly after this date the lists were updated with the new APPG’s.

Some groups have been registered, these entries are indicated with an asterisk (*) before the group name. All other entries have not yet reregistered and so information present may not be accurate.

So what ARE these Groups all about, anyway?

From the same Document:

All-party groups are unofficial, and have a membership of backbench Members of the House of Commons, or of both Houses. They are classified either as subject groups(relating to a particular topic eg. forestry) or relating to a particular country or region).

The groups tend on the whole to cover subjects which are not generally contentious in party terms. These groups flourish and wane according to the interests and enthusiasm of Members and with the topicality of various subjects. They reflect the interests of the day and therefore may change frequently.

Over the years since 1945, it has been argued, less and less influence has been exerted by backbench Members in the formulation of government policy, and there has been insufficient consultation between backbenchers and Ministers.

All-party groups can sometimes serve as a counterbalance to this. They have a liaison function and can, when necessary, exert pressure on a Minister to modify policy or influence legislation and further action in particular areas. They thus play a part in the flexible pattern of consultation that Governments nowadays employ in order to sound out views both inside and outside Parliament. Non party activity is important, for it ensures that parliamentary life is not wholly dominated by party feeling. It helps Members to appreciate the qualities of their political opponents, and to establish yet more firmly an underlying consensus about the value of parliamentary institutions.

To sum up, all-party groups may draw attention to certain aspects of public affairs, may assist in keeping the Government informed of parliamentary opinion, and may act as pressure-groups to promote some particular cause.

And as Peter Richards said in The Backbenchers ( Faber & Faber, 1974): Non party activity is important, for it ensures that parliamentary life is not wholly dominated by party feeling. It helps Members to appreciate the qualities of their political opponents, and to establish yet more firmly an underlying consensus about the value of parliamentary institutions.

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Do You Bicycle? Dedicated to the proposition that bike riding is good for you and fun. Commentary, links, news, opinion, reviews, stories, travelogue, and occasional heads up about events. An ordinary road cyclist spreads the word and the word is BICYCLE!

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